Compact hi-fi system from Yamaha
New Products ( 4 )
Yamaha raises the bar with its MCR-332, a compact hi-fi system. Features include 2-way bass reflex speakers that use 11-cm woofer units, and a digital amp. The iPhone/iPod dedicated dock provides a digital connection, allowing the digital signal from the iPhone/iPod to be transmitted directly to the receiver.
On sale from mid-October. Price: around 37,000 yen.
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4 Comments
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0
gaijintraveller
What is a digital amp? I thought the amplification was done by an analogue process and digital signals were converted into analogue before amplification.
Editor, could we clarify whether the amplification system is digital or analogue?
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Mike Haug
A quick google shows that the term "digital amplifier" used in manufacturer's literature generally refers to a Class D or switching amplifier, where the output transistors are switched at a high frequency (fully off or fully on), and the signal is filtered at the output to smooth it into a sine wave again. Class D amps are very compact and efficient, which is why they have become very popular in new products.
A Class D amp could or could not contain D/A converters or DSP components, so it's possible to feed a purely digital signal into a "digital amp" for further processing, but the signal has to be an analog signal to be heard by a human being, or it would (probably) just sound like noise, if we could even hear it at all. Hence, the signal must be converted to an analog signal before amplification. I imagine it's possible to convert a digital signal to an analog after amplification, but a D/A converter that could handle a 200 Watt input signal seems unnecessary to me. :)
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jeffrey
I think whether it's "digital" or not is beside the point. If it's designed to playback music saved to an iPad or iPod, it's not producing hi-fidelity sound.
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Virtuoso
I would not argue that point@jeffrey, except to say that iPod music is probably just as good as the old stereo cassette decks were at the peak of their performance, with all their sssssssss tape hiss (requiring Dolby noise reduction), wow, flutter, etc. Most people's ears are not keen enough to hear 20kHz signals -- they're satisfied with good 2-channel separation and no signal clipping at high volumes.
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